Hillary Clinton’s legacy as secretary of state

On Jan. 21, 2009, Hillary Rodham Clinton was sworn in as the 67th secretary of state of the United States. While working in President Obama’s first-term Cabinet, the former first lady and US senator from New York headed the department conducting foreign policy. Four years seemed to fly by, but we take a look back at some of her most memorable moments as secretary of state.
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“We need to get in the habit of looking to the horizon and planning for how we want things to be,” Clinton said in July 2009 during the announcement.Next

Sebastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images

Turkey and Armenia

In 2009 Hillary Clinton and Swiss mediators intervened to overcome an accord establishing diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia that opened the border between the two nations.

Pictured: Clinton left as she spoke with Armenian Foreign Minister Edouard Nalbandian (right) in Zurich. Next

Evan Vucci/Associated Press

Censor-free Internet

In January 2010, Clinton made a historic speech calling for a global Internet free of censorship. She criticized China’s Internet censorship, and demanded from China to investigate claims by Google that e-mail accounts belonging to human rights activists had been hacked. “And we look to the Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough review of the cyber intrusions that led Google to make its announcement, “ she said. “And we also look for that investigation and its results to be transparent.”
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Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

South Korea trip

Clinton visited South Korea with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in July 2010, where they toured the no-man’s land that has divided the Korean Peninsula for more than 50 years.

“It struck me that, although it may be a thin line, these two places are worlds apart,” Clinton said at the time.
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Oli Scarff/Getty Images

WikiLeaks

In late November 2010, after WikiLeaks leaked thousands of State Department cables, Clinton blasted the organization, and took charge of leading the damage control effort.

“Let’s be clear: This disclosure is not just an attack on America’s foreign policy interests,” Clinton told journalists. “It is an attack on the international community—the alliances and partnerships, the conversations and negotiations that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity.”

The 2011 Egyptian revolution posed the biggest foreign policy crisis the administration had seen. Clinton was at the forefront of the United States’s public response, and called for “peaceful transition to democracy.”

Pictured: Egyptian military chief Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi shook hand with Clinton before their meeting at the Defence Ministry in Cairo on July 15, 2012.Next

Alex Brandon/Associated PRess

Libya air strikes

Clinton, who was originally skeptical on whether to take military action on Libya, changed course to form an “unlikely alliance” with top administration aides who supported the intervention, and convinced the president to approve military strikes against the Libyan government. The secretary of state served a key role in the success of the NATO airstrikes.

In early December 2011, Clinton gave a historic speech before the United Nations Human Rights Council on international gay rights.

Said Clinton to a UN audience in Switzerland: “Being LGBT does not make you less human, and that is why gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.”
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KEVIN LAMARQUE/Reuters

Texts from Hillary

In April 2012, this photo of the secretary sparked an Internet sensation, “Texts from Hillary,” in which memes of hypothetical text conversations were created for all to enjoy. The site’s popularity even earned an LOL from Hill-Dawg herself. Can we call her Hill-Dawg?
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Jacquelyn Martin/Reuters

Broke ‘most countries visited by a secretary of state’ record

In June 2012, Clinton touched down in Riga, Latvia, and checked off the 100th country she had visited in office. The “most countries visited by a secretary of state” record was previously held by Madeleine Albright with 98.

In July 2012, Clinton became the first US secretary of state to visit Laos in more than five decades. During her weeklong tour of Southeastern Asia, Clinton met with Laos’s communist government’s prime minister and foreign minister.

Clinton was admitted to the New York-Presbyterian Hospital on Dec. 30, 2012 after a blood clot was discovered following her concussion earlier in the month. The State Department said Clinton was dehydrated because of the virus, fainted and sustained a concussion.

She sported thick-rimmed glasses instead of contact lenses because on lingering issues stemming from the December concussion. Unfortunately, it was not a fashion statement.
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EPA

Benghazi hearing

On Sept. 11, 2012, an attack was made on an American diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, resulting in the death of four Americans, including US Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

The attack, America’s preparedness for it, and the aftermath of the killings became a hot political topic.

Pictured: Clinton testified on Capitol Hill before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.Next

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Most admired woman

The former first lady was also named the Most Admired Woman of 2012 in a Gallup poll, beating out Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey by a landslide.
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Somali government

The Obama administration recognized Somalia’s government again after a two-decade gap. Calling it a milestone in the country’s fight against Islamist extremists, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made the announcement Jan. 17 alongside Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
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Paul McErlane/EPA

A second memoir

Hillary Clinton is planning another memoir, according to the Huffington Post, though she doesn’t know what she’ll be saying in it yet. She told Huffington Post that she wouldn’t be writing anything until she caught up on “about 20 years worth of sleep deprivation.” Clinton has already written a best selling memoir in 2003 (“Living History”) and a book about child development (“It Takes A Village”) in 1996.
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